New Jersey chemist, Tianle Li, sentenced to life for fatally poisoning her husband

Photo/Minnesota Historical Society via wikimedia commons

Tianle Li, a chemist residing in New Jersey was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison on Monday, Sept. 30. She was accused of fatally poisoning her husband during a divorce.

The tragedy happened in Jan 2011, when Li, a former employee of Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., was accused of killing her estranged husband, Xiaoye Wang, a software engineer, with a “lethal and massive dose” of a highly toxic metal that she obtained from work.  The couple who reportedly had a series of marital problems since 2009 was going through a divorce.

The metal that was used in the murder was thallium, which could be fatal in small doses and is banned for consumer use in the United States. Li was accused of adding the chemical to her husband’s food.

Wang passed away in a hospital in Princeton.

Li’s lawyer said that there was no proof that she poisoned her husband and Li pleaded not guilty in 2011.

After a series of tests done, it was determined that Wang was poisoned.

In July 2013, Li, 43, was found guilty and was sentenced to 30 years to life in prison when she returned to court in September.

On Monday, Sept. 30, Li was sentenced to life in prison in a murder that was “planned, calculated and committed in a cool and depraved manner,” Judge Michael Toto said.

She won’t be eligible for parole for nearly 63 years.